Log Level Diagnosis - Quick Reference¶

The Problem¶

"I see INFO in the GUI log widget, but not ERROR, WARNING, DEBUG, etc."

Quick Diagnosis (30 seconds)¶

# Run the diagnostic tool
python3 scripts/diagnose_log_filtering.py

# Inject test messages
python3 scripts/inject_test_messages.py

# Check the GUI log widget

What to Look For¶

If test messages appear:¶

Conclusion: System works! Your app isn't logging errors yet.
Solution: Add error logging to your code:
```
log("Error occurred", level="error")
```

If test messages don't appear:¶

Check diagnostic output for these issues:

Issue 1: Wrong GUI Level¶

GUI Log Level: ERROR  <- WRONG! Should be INFO

Fix: Edit config file:

[LOGGING]
level_gui = INFO

Issue 2: Disabled Categories¶

general [cats_gui_general] = DISABLED  <- WRONG!

Fix: Edit config file:

[LOGGING]
cats_gui_general = true

Issue 3: Filter Test Fails¶

ERROR in general (level=40): BLOCKED  <- WRONG!

Fix: There's a bug. Report this output.

Understanding the GUI Display¶

Important: The GUI strips level prefixes before display!

This means: - Message sent: "12:34:56 ERROR: Upload failed" - GUI shows: "12:34:56 Upload failed" <- No "ERROR:" visible!

How to tell what level a message is: 1. Enable level prefixes: show_log_level_gui = true in config 2. Check the log file (always has prefixes) 3. Open the log viewer dialog (shows full messages)

Common Mistakes¶

Mistake 1: Not using level parameter¶

# Wrong (defaults to INFO)
log("Upload failed")

# Correct (explicit ERROR level)
log("Upload failed", level="error")

Mistake 2: Expecting to see "ERROR:" prefix¶

The GUI strips these prefixes! Enable show_log_level_gui if you want them.

Mistake 3: Thinking messages are blocked¶

They're probably showing, just without obvious visual indicators.

Filter Logic (Technical)¶

Messages pass the filter when:

log_level >= gui_level

With default gui_level = INFO (20): - DEBUG (10) < 20 -> BLOCKED - INFO (20) >= 20 -> SHOWN - WARNING (30) >= 20 -> SHOWN - ERROR (40) >= 20 -> SHOWN - CRITICAL (50) >= 20 -> SHOWN

Conclusion: If INFO shows, ERROR/WARNING MUST show too (unless categories are disabled).

Files to Check¶

Config file: ~/.bbdrop/bbdrop.ini
Section: [LOGGING]
Key settings: level_gui, cats_gui_*
Log file: ~/.bbdrop/logs/bbdrop.log
Shows ALL messages with full prefixes
Useful for comparison with GUI
Source code: Search for log calls
```
grep -rn 'level="error"' src/
```

Quick Fixes¶

Enable All Categories¶

[LOGGING]
cats_gui_general = true
cats_gui_network = true
cats_gui_uploads = true
cats_gui_auth = true
cats_gui_ui = true
cats_gui_queue = true
cats_gui_renaming = true
cats_gui_fileio = true
cats_gui_hooks = true

Show Level Prefixes in GUI¶

[LOGGING]
show_log_level_gui = true
show_category_gui = true

Set GUI Level to Show Everything¶

[LOGGING]
level_gui = DEBUG

Test Commands¶

# 1. Full diagnostic (shows config and tests)
python3 scripts/diagnose_log_filtering.py

# 2. Send test messages (verifies GUI receives them)
python3 scripts/inject_test_messages.py

# 3. Simple level tests
python3 scripts/test_log_levels.py

# 4. Find ERROR log calls in code
grep -rn 'level="error"' src/

# 5. Check config file
cat ~/.bbdrop/bbdrop.ini | grep -A 20 "\[LOGGING\]"

# 6. Check log file (last 50 lines)
tail -50 ~/.bbdrop/logs/bbdrop.log

Most Likely Answer¶

90% chance: Your application isn't logging ERROR or WARNING messages yet. The logging system works fine, but there are no errors to log.

8% chance: Category filters are blocking the messages.

2% chance: There's an actual bug in the filtering logic.

Run the diagnostic to know for sure!